Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images(LONDON) -- The engineer of the train that crashed in Spain last week, killing at least 79 people, was talking on the phone to an official at the country’s national rail company at the time of the accident, according to investigators.

The train was going as fast as 119 miles per hour shortly before the derailment, investigators said Tuesday, and engineer Francisco Jose Garzon Amo activated the brakes just seconds before the crash.